The hero of Nghe An on the legendary ship without a number

(Baonghean) -Nghe An people are always proud of him - the hero of the Unnumbered Train, who together with his teammates contributed to creating beautiful legends about the Ho Chi Minh trail at sea. He is Pham Xuan Huong - from Do Luong district, Nghe An, the mechanic on the legendary Unnumbered Train 154. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Ho Chi Minh trail at sea, October 23 (1961-2011), I would like to turn to a few pages of his fragrant manuscript.

In 1964, when he was just in his second year at the Maritime School, young student Pham Xuan Huong volunteered to join the army. After a short training period, he and 30 of his teammates were honored to be assigned to Group 125. In October 1964, the son of Nghe An went on his first trip on ship 154. Ship 154 ​​was a 100-ton, double-bottom iron-hulled ship built by the Navy's 3rd workshop. To ensure secrecy, all officers and soldiers on board had aliases. When the ship reached international waters, it pretended to be a fishing boat. The ship was equipped with explosives and 4 ship-destroying systems. There were 42 officers and soldiers on board, the captain was comrade Dinh Dat from Quang Ngai (died), and political commissar Nguyen Van Duc from Ben Tre. The ship carried weapons such as submachine guns, rifles and infantry rockets... all hidden under the bottom of the first ship. In the bottom of the second ship, fishing nets were used to camouflage 12.7mm guns, DKZs, depth charges, and smoke to prepare for combat.

All the officers and soldiers were dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothes. The train carrying more than 70 tons of weapons took only nearly a week from Hai Phong to Rach Goc wharf, Ca Mau safely. This first train trip was also an unforgettable one for the young soldier Pham Xuan Huong, because on board at that time was comrade Le Duc Anh and two other senior officers. These were the comrades who traveled with the unnumbered train to the South to work. Later, when comrade Le Duc Anh held a high position in the Army and the State, Pham Xuan Huong realized that he was the person who traveled with her on the unnumbered train years ago.

The war has been over for 36 years, the soldiers of the old numberless ships are still alive, some are dead. But the memories of the fairytale-like journeys of those numberless ships are still imprinted in the hearts of those who are still alive. Mr. Huong has now passed the age threshold of "rare in the past", but his trips on those numberless ships nearly 50 years ago seem like just yesterday, the day before yesterday.

Mr. Huong recalled: ...Starting from 1965-1966, the journeys of the unnumbered ships encountered many difficulties and obstacles. Because at this time, the route to transport weapons, medicine and other military equipment by sea from North to South was discovered, surrounded and blockaded by the enemy, causing us considerable losses. Especially in 1968, in order to promptly support the Southern battlefield, 4 ships 165, 56, 43 and 235 left K15 wharf in Do Son to cross the sea. On this trip, our 4 weapon ships had to resist the enemy's fierce siege and attacks, many of our soldiers sacrificed... In that situation, Uncle Ho and the Party Central Committee directed the Ministry of National Defense and the Navy Command to organize forces to explore and survey to open a new route at sea. By mid-1969, the new route was formed. And immediately, on September 4, 1969, ship 154 ​​was the pioneer in crossing the sea on a new route. On this trip, ship 154 ​​successfully carried nearly 75 tons of weapons to the South. The success was a great joy and happiness not only for the army and people of the South, but also for the soldiers of the unnumbered ship. Mr. Huong always remembered the moment the ship docked, the soldiers and the people hugged each other in tears of joy.

Trip after trip. After the successful trip in September 1969, Mr. Pham Xuan Huong continued with ship 154 ​​to make another sea crossing. That was the trip in October 1970. In the previous trips, the old sea route was less than 100 nautical miles from the coast, but this new route was nearly 500 nautical miles away, having to go through many international waters to avoid being detected by the enemy. The round trip time was therefore longer and more difficult, but the soldiers on the ship were still determined to deliver weapons to the people of the South to fight the enemy. It was the time of rain and wind, the sea waves were big, so normally, the ships docked between 12 midnight and 2 a.m. However, on this trip, by 3 a.m., the ship still had not found a destination. At this time, the captain discovered that the ship had lost its way, unable to determine which sea area it was in.

One plan was to let the ship approach the shore (although the landing location was unknown) to drop the weapons close to the shore, the soldiers on board evacuated to shore, and the ship was taken about 1km away to detonate. However, this plan was not implemented in the end, because at nearly 4am, when approaching the shore, the members on board saw two very bright lights on the sea. Captain La Minh Tot decided to let the ship pass those two lights, the ship entered a river, no one on board knew which river this was. About 30 minutes later, when the scenery was dimly visible, the soldiers saw that on both sides of the river, the trees were all dead because of Agent Orange. The situation on the ship at that time was very difficult to decide whether to continue or turn back. But, at that moment, the soldiers on board ship 154 ​​saw two people fishing, so they invited one of them onto the ship to ask. As luck would have it, after a few minutes of surprise, the fisherman said he was a guerrilla and that if the boat went another kilometer, it would encounter an enemy outpost. The guerrilla said he had to turn back toward the estuary to avoid the enemy.

On the way back, the soldiers on the ship clearly saw two bright lights at the river mouth when entering, which were the two lights on two enemy ships. Once out at sea, the guerrillas led the ship into a canal, to a village. This village had just been liberated 3 days ago, the villagers were very happy to see the Northern troops, the villagers gathered to cut trees to camouflage the ship safely. That very evening, the liaison and guide of Military Region 9 arrived at the village where ship 154 ​​was taking refuge, after receiving the news. At night, the ship left the village to return to Vam Lung wharf (Ca Mau), the destination of the trip. At 4 o'clock the next morning, the ship carrying all the weapons arrived safely at the wharf.

Mr. Pham Xuan Huong confided: “Although we got lost and had to spend more time transferring weapons, this ship still arrived safely at the port, which was a lucky thing. Lucky to have passed two enemy ships twice without being detected, lucky to have met the right militia and guerrillas, and lucky to have entered a liberated village and received help from the people.”

It can be said that those trips not only created the determination to fight and win of the Ho Chi Minh trail at sea that only exists in our country, but also created a heroic history of the brave spirit of the Vietnamese people, including the children of the resilient Nghe An...

Nguyen Viet Chinh